Note: Where available, the PDF/Word icon below is provided to view the complete and fully formatted document
Previous Fragment    Next Fragment
Ch19 Parliamentary privilege / THE COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTS PRIVILEGE POWERS / No new privilege may be created except by legislation



Download WordDownload Word

House of Representatives                                Ch 19                                                 p 711

 

Parliamentary privilege / THE COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENT’S PRIVILEGE POWERS

 

No new privilege may be created except by legislation

The rights and immunities of the Houses, their committees and Members are part of the law of the Commonwealth, and the law may only be changed by the passage of legislation by the three component parts of the Parliament. Subject to the constraints imposed by the Constitution, it would however be possible for the Commonwealth Parliament to enact legislation which varied an existing right or immunity or created a new one.

Within the framework set by the Constitution and relevant legislation it is within the competence of each House to expound the law of privilege and apply that law to the circumstances of each case as it arises. 1 To suggest, as has on occasions been done, that the existing privileges of the Parliament have been extended in some particular case, is incorrect.

____________________

 

In the following sections, the principal rights and immunities of the House are described. While they have been enjoyed since Federation by virtue of the provisions of section 49, 2 the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 has modified the detail or provided amplification in some respects so that the provisions better meet the needs of the modern Houses.



For further comment see HC 34 (1967-68) 97-9.



See Quick and Garran , pp. 501-2 for an enumeration of the of the principal powers, privileges and immunities of each House and of the Members of each House, drawn from the law and custom of the House of Commons as at 1901.